Loaches Online Forum

I just saw these at a not so lfs. Unfortunately I knew way more than the workers in that I knew they were some kind of sinibotia. Possible common names were 18 bar loach & king (or queen) tiger. The 2 out in a clay pot looked pretty good, there were several others in & under the box filter along with a s. heloides (I think) & some terrorized apistos.

So, if I decide to get some (no price either) should I get a group? Do they hide all the time? Could they live with sids, it's the tank closest to the species profile? Any other considerations or experiences would be much appreciated.

I have kept pulchra in groups and alone. I think it would depend on how much room you have.
This is a very mellow species that does hide quite often. I presently have one in with some sids and there is no conflict between the two species. I have also kept pulchra with botias striata, dario, kubotai, and histrionica. They get along with everyone. The main problem I have had is their penchant for swimming into powerhead and filter outflows. Until I blocked the filter outflow with plastic canvas grid, I used to find them thrashing around in the filter about 5am.

Sinibotia pulchra are a really lovely species. However, they do prefer slightly cooler than average water temperature which may limit what you can keep them with. I used to keep mine in a river tank with hillstream loaches, and they were modeal citizens, apart from trying to get their noses into the powerheads (we fixed that by heating up the plastic flow output nozzle with a hot-air gun and then - carefully! - giving the tube a quick squeeze so that the pipe was restricted slightly and their noses wouldn't fit in).

Emma

I'd love to have some if only we get stocks like them a lot. China is just near us and it is a shame most Chinese loaches never reach us.

I agree with Jim and Emma ! these are quite secretive though, and would appreciate some cover i.e. rocks, wood , etc, etc, when i had these i found that they would stay hidden most of the time , and when it was feeding time they would dash wildly about the tank , eating as much as possible , and then retiring back to their hidey holes , one thing for sure about these is no matter how shy they appear , they will not miss out on their food ! GOOD LUCK !

My experiences with them has been pretty much the same as everyone else.

Mine aren't quite as secretive as everyone else mentioned but still pretty quiet until feeding and ussually dusk.

Emma, i am just wondering whether you have two species actually? Two of the four i rarely see, just a little bit around feeding times. Yet the other two will often have a quick scavenge in the day. I have also noticed that two have 7-8 gold bands, the other two 10-12, the common name on the main site is 12 banded so i'm not sure the 7-8 banded ones are actually pulchra, rather something else?

David

Lots to consider, thanks for the info. I wouldn't have thought of the water returns & outlets being problems even though I've read it on the forums here several times.

I have been thinking of setting up a small 29g river tank since falling in love with sewellia but these sinibotia seem like they may be too active for a 30 inch tank. What do you guys think?

Hi Daspricey, could the 8 barred fish be Reevesae

NancyD wrote:I have been thinking of setting up a small 29g river tank since falling in love with sewellia but these sinibotia seem like they may be too active for a 30 inch tank. What do you guys think?

I wouldn't consider anything smaller than 48".

Hi Daspricey, could the 8 barred fish be Reevesae Question

It's possible, the pictures on the main site seem to show great variations.

This show 7 bands for this fish,



Unless you count the half bands.

Whereas this one shows 8 but i would imagine there would be a couple more meaning 10+

Some of the other regular LOLers also bought a few Sinibotia from the same batch as Davids, and I know at least one of them has several with different numbers of bands. Rather embarrassingly, right now I cannot remember who has them - could be Ashleigh, Graeme or Mad Duff. (sorry ). Would be interesting to compare pics at some point.

Emma

Yes, got a few Sinibotia from Emma's There is quite a lot of variation in mine, both from the 5/6 I got from Emma's and the two I got when they came in with a bunch of Sinibotia robusta.

Few pic's of mine from that thread;





















Not the best quality, but there is some variation.


Em, do you have any more of these in?? Might be around in May time that way


Ashleigh

There is also the difference in patterns on the head towards the bottom. I don't think number of bands alone is enough to consider them different species but some just don't look pulchra like to me due to different head patterns, stripe nums, colour intensity etc.

BTW nice pics Ashleigh, i'm convinced you have more than one species!

David

Oh, Ashleigh, if there is one thing I like about you..it's your luck being able to get so many loaches.

Forgot to answer the original question. I would try no shorer than a 48 inch-these little chaps can fairly move! I have mine in quarantine in a 30 inch, and to be honest didn't give them much room; these guys like their space but really worth it

Oh, Ashleigh, if there is one thing I like about you..it's your luck being able to get so many loaches.

I think I have a problem...


Ashleigh

I got some of these guys to, like Ashleigh stated they do like space to move which is why mine will be moving from their current 35 gallon tank to my 250 gallon tank soon and hopefully I will be able to pick up some more soon

A couple o recenr pics: